Big Give StencilJS Web Components

The project is based on a sample project from https://stenciljs.com/docs/getting-started

Setup and Build

Get latest version of codebase from github

git clone https://github.com/thebiggive/components.git
cd components

Install StencilJS dependencies as defined in package.json

Set FONTAWESOME_NPM_AUTH_TOKEN in your environment so pro packages can be installed, and:

npm install
npm start

Run tests

npm test

Development

Follow Stencil + repository conventions

CI runs lint checks, but there are tools to help you follow the expected code style so you don't have to fix it later.

In Visual Studio Code, you might find this ESLint extension and this Prettier one helpful.

We use both tools to ensure both consistent code style and adherence to Stencil recommended practice.

Husky should also set you up a pre-commit hook that fixes anything it can automatically, and complains about anything else. If you don't appear to have this and had already installed packages before this feature was set up, run npm install again.

Dependencies and build output

Anything externally managed should be loaded with npm and no copies checked into this codebase. We can use Stencil copy tasks and target app build strategies to get things in the right place.

Generated build outputs should similarly be .gitignored.

Because Stencil components have partly generated readme docs, after changing any @Props or similar it's necessary to npm run build before committing your changes. The docs are source controlled as they can include manual content. CircleCI will also run npm run build and fail if there are any changes required that were not committed.

If you make a new one, it's a good idea to add a one line description of its purpose to the readme before the generated section.

Output targets

Stencil is able to take an app's source and compile it to numerous targets

Read more in Stencil's docs.

Primary targets are:

• angularOutputTarget() – used in Donate frontend.
• dist-custom-elements – the docs don't make this terribly clear but with our current configuration, these are a dependency for the Angular project/target to build successfully. Angular needs to be told that they live inside dist/ (so are published in dist/components).
• dist-hydrate-script for SSR – used in Donate frontend as initially served by ECS. Stencil document this one separately.
• dist for general web modules – used in WordPress.
• Storybook has its own build step using the component from source. Currently, this is also used in Salesforce to embed components in iframes, the only feasible way we've been able to get Experiences to dynamically pull in components.
• docs-readme for documentation.

Targets we have but just for local experiments:

• www

Angular components

As well as the core package @biggive/components, CI automatically publishes a version best tailored to Angular as @biggive/components-angular. The former are possible to load into Angular but the latter will work better as documented.

Our Angular workspace and library are set up as per that documentation, but our Stencil library lives in this repo's root, one directory up from in the docs' structure. So far this seems to have no adverse effects.

Asset dependencies

So far our strategy has been to avoid separate file assets where this is an out-the-box option, but to choose copying over more complex build time changes (e.g. base-64-inlining images) otherwise. This is to get the simplest working proof of concept up quickly and we may revisit it soon.

For now:

• FontAwesome uses pure SVGs and not fonts. This seems to work well and I suspect is the best option for performance, component interoperability, simplicity and licence compliance.
• The Euclid font is copied with a Stencil copy task and available in the dist output's assets/fonts. An Angular app's build, for example, can then use the style with the following addition to an angular.json "styles" key: "node_modules/@biggive/components/dist/biggive/assets/fonts/EuclidTriangle/stylesheet.css"
• Images are also copied with a Stencil copy task, and fixed references use getAssetPath() plus a path, e.g. getAssetPath('/assets/images/banner.png'). See the Stencil asset docs for more on this. Angular seems to be able to use this without setAssetPath() if we config its "assets" key to put files in the same folder as the app's own images. This is the approach taken on this proof of concept branch. Should we find managing image assets messy in apps generally, an alternative approach we might try is importing images to component style and adding @rollup/plugin-image to Stencil's build config. Or if there are only a few, we could also investigate whether assetsDirs on a @Component folds in what's needed in a way that works in Angular et al.

Make any required changes to the sample web components

The web components are configured in /src/components

The /src/index.html file can be used as a test area for displaying the web components in a static HTML page.

Run the StencilJS build command to package your changes

npm run build

Outputs

dist directory - https://stenciljs.com/docs/distribution

This directory contains the distribtion files

www directory - https://stenciljs.com/docs/www

This directory contains a static version of the web components which can be used for testing and inclusion in simple web apps. Due to CORS restrictions, the index.html file needs to be run from a webserver (not as a local file).

Storybook

We've followed this guide to provide sample usage of key components: a living style guide.

From the main branch, CI automatically npm-publishes a new major version and updates the Storybook preview.

For now, the local npm run storybook won't load static image assets or fonts. We've prioritised realistic renders in the deployed environment, where these work due to:

• CI separately copying the main build's assets output to S3: see e.g. deploy-staging-storybook in CI config
• Storybook having a custom preview-head.html.

Publish to NPM

Versions and publishing

CircleCI will now create a new version, build and publish it to npm on every commit to main. Version numbers are generated such that every release is a new "major" release, so dependent packages must use version "*" to automatically receive new versions on npm update.

Manual updates

It is no longer expected to manually update versions, but if the automatic process is ever broken, the steps used before Jan '23 were:

• Update the root package.json's version field.
• npm install to update package-lock.json to match.
• Update angular/projects/components/package.json's version field so that @biggive/components-angular matches too.
• git tag v0.0.1 (replace with your new version)
• git push --tags

You can also do the npm publish manually if necessary:

First, connect to npm if you have never done so before: npm add_user.

Then:

npm publish --access=public

The name of the NPM package and version number can be updated in the root package.json file. It's currently set to (@biggive/components, 0.0.1)

More information about publishing and distribution is available at https://stenciljs.com/docs/distribution

Include components in web app

Include the following script tag in the HTML head

<script type='module' src='https://unpkg.com/@biggive/components@0.0.1/dist/biggive/biggive.esm.js'></script>

Include the markup for the sample web component

<demo-campaign-cards></demo-campaign-cards>

Styled Component

The first styled components are available

• biggive-grid
• biggive-campaign-card

These can be added to an HTML page with the following code:

  <biggive-grid>

    <biggive-campaign-card
      banner="/assets/images/banner.png"
      days-remaining={50}
      target={50000}
      organisation-name="Ardent Theatre Company"
      campaign-type="Match Funded"
      campaign-title="Strike! A play by Tracy Ryan"
      categories="Arts/Culture/Heritage|Environment/Conservation|Health/Wellbeing"
      beneficiaries="General Public/Humankind"
      match-funds-remaining={17424}
      total-funds-raised={15424}
      call-to-action-url="#"
      call-to-action-label="Donate"
    />

  </biggive-grid>